MIAMI — The All-Star break has come and gone, the trade deadline approaches and the Orioles look lost.

For as excellent as Baltimore performed in an arduous June that featured just one day off, July has been a different beast. The Orioles have lost more than they’ve won this month and entered Wednesday’s game against the Marlins with a putrid offensive showing in July.

Entering Wednesday, Baltimore had scored the fourth-fewest runs this month in Major League Baseball. The Orioles’ .177 batting average with runners in scoring position ranked penultimately. The going has been tough, and the going continued in a downward spiral with the 6-3 loss to one of baseball’s bottom dwellers.

“I think baseball’s just kind of a weird game,” outfielder Colton Cowser said, “and I think that we have a really, really talented lineup and I think that it’s something that hopefully won’t last long.”

The focus leading up to next week’s trade deadline has long centered on additional pitching to bolster a rotation that has lost three starters to season-ending injuries. But, as the offense scuffles at this level, the issues extend beyond the pitching staff — an injection of life, a spark, appears required.

From where that may come is another question.

There’s a farm system full of hitters, and infield prospect Connor Norby is expected to get a run of playing time after Jorge Mateo dislocated his elbow. Otherwise, if there aren’t major lineup changes, the Orioles will hope their proven hitters turn a teamwide slump around.

Since the beginning of July, the Orioles are 7-10. They’re 11-16 since June 21, when they lost the first of three games to the Houston Astros. Baltimore has carried a negative-40 run differential in those 27 games. Still, the Orioles remain in first place in the American League East.

For another night, scoring runs was an adventure. Baltimore stranded two runners in the third and fifth innings. The Orioles faced right-hander Edward Cabrera — a starter who entered with a 7.36 ERA — and chased balls for strikes. And when the Orioles knocked out Cabrera in the sixth with their first major rally of the series, it took a two-out double down the right field line from Cowser to open the lid on run production.

“That was really a frustrating game,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Facing the guy that walks 20% of hitters and has a 7.00 ERA, and we got a bases-loaded double and that was pretty much it. So, yeah, not our best at-bats.”

At the time, Cowser’s three-run knock felt as though it carried extra meaning. It didn’t give Baltimore a lead, but it cleared the bases and served as an exhalation for a lineup that has proven anemic of late.

Baltimore relied upon right-hander Chayce McDermott in his major league debut to give much-needed length. Although McDermott composed himself well in his first Orioles start, the three runs against him felt like a steep climb for an offense that has managed few high-scoring outputs lately.

McDermott finished his four innings with five hits, three runs, two walks and three strikeouts on his line. He flashed a fastball that reached 96 mph and drew four whiffs, along with a slider, splitter, curveball and sweeper.

“Disappointed a little bit,” McDermott said. “Didn’t execute some pitches. Wanted to give the team the chance to win — I think that’s the main reason everyone’s here. I didn’t feel like I really did that, so there’s a little bit of disappointment. But I felt like I handled myself pretty well at the same time, and just a chance to learn.”

McDermott was joined for his debut by his wife, parents and brother, along with other family and friends. Wednesday felt different than other start-day mornings, but he soon settled in and the nerves fell away. It was promising, overall, and his robust arsenal has served McDermott well in Triple-A and should allow him to develop into a reliable major league starter.

“It’s nice to get this under my belt and learn kind of the difference between Triple-A and the big leagues and kind of understand that and give me a chance to work on it,” McDermott said.

“I thought he had excellent stuff and he showed really what he’s capable of, and the Marlins, they did a really good job that second time through,” Cowser said. “It felt like they were fouling off every pitch, kind of got the pitch count up a little bit. But I liked what I saw from Chayce today.”

When the game turned over to the bullpen, trouble arrived. And, in the seventh, the clutch hit from Cowser fell by the wayside.

Right-hander Jacob Webb allowed a leadoff single before he was lifted for left-hander Cionel Pérez. Then, with two on and one out, Pérez gave up a two-run double to Jazz Chisholm Jr. before Bryan De La Cruz plated Chisholm with a single.

“A really frustrating inning,” Hyde said. “Got a left-on-left guy trying to bunt, we walk him. So that can’t happen, and then we just didn’t execute. Need the punchout, second and third, and it was a ball right in the middle of the plate. So we got to be better than that.”

Those three runs put Baltimore into another hole. The Orioles had rallied once. They wouldn’t rally again.